BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, March 10 (IslamOnline and News Agencies) – Concerning reports over the continuation of “Operation Anaconda”, U.S. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said Sunday that while the “major” assault is over, the battle is far from finished.

“The U.S. is not going to stop until all pockets of resistance have been rooted out. This [operation] does not constitute a victory.”

She also commented on the tenacity of the Al-Qaeda fighters saying, “They are clearly very tough fighters. This [operation] is one of the more important operations of the war, to make certain that they cannot regroup.”

U.S. troops pulled out of the Arma mountains in eastern Afghanistan Sunday spoke of coming under heavy and unexpected mortar fire from Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters besieged in a cave complex.

Some 400 U.S. troops returned here after more than a week of fighting since “Operation Anaconda” was launched in the Paktia province on March 2. The troops, most of whom were members of the 101st Airborne Division, returned to Bagram Air Base north of Kabul at around 3:00 pm (1030 GMT), looking exhausted as they descended from their Chinook helicopters.

"This did not go quite like the textbook, but nothing ever does. When the time came to deliver the air strikes we did that and more," said Corey Daniel, 23, the leader of a fire support team responsible for directing air strikes. Others spoke of coming under heavy and unexpected mortar fire soon after disembarking from their helicopters.

Staff Sergeant Chad Gore of the 101st said his squad was pinned down by heavy mortar fire after being dropped on the mountainside on day one of the offensive.

"There was more fire than I expected. We dropped a lot of bombs on the mountains, but it did not seem to end the mortar fire like I would have thought. It was tougher to get them out of their holes," he said of the al-Qaeda fighters.

"We could see them mortar us from a position and a bomb go in on them. But then they would start firing on us again from the same position."

He said his men took cover in a creek bed.

"They had us for about three hours and we couldn't do a thing. That's pretty much changed our whole plan. I think the same thing happened to everybody. It seemed to slow everything down. The mission kind of changed with all the contact we were taking." However, he said none of his men was hit.

Specialist Justin Celano, 21, also of the 101st, was the spotter for a sniper unit operating ahead of the other U.S. forces, looking for enemy targets and relaying information to U.S. mortar positions and calling in information to pilots.

The holed up Al-Qaeda fighters held their positions and made effective use of their mortars on the first day of the offensive. "They were a lot more accurate than I had expected," he said. "One that didn't blow up was only feet away from me and my sniper team - a little too close for comfort."

"They were walking the mortars in on us because they saw the sniper rifle and obviously they wanted to take that out," he said.

The U.S. administration has categorically stated that the ongoing war in Afghanistan is not scheduled to end any time soon and has repeatedly sought to bolster dwindling domestic and international support for the continuation of the conflict.